There is 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'The Shining' - but for a truly shocking horror story Sunderland fans now have 'Kevin Phillips at Highbury'.

There is 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'The Shining' - but for a truly shocking horror story Sunderland fans now have 'Kevin Phillips at Highbury'.

The four chances Phillips contrived to miss in Sunderland's 3-0 defeat against Arsenal were bad enough from a striker whose ambitions to go to the World Cup are now all but officially defunct.

The really bleak fear, however, was that Sunderland now have the look of a team in terminal decline, just fifth from bottom and three points away from oblivion.

The ashen look on the face of manager Peter Reid said it all as he contemplated the importance of today's encounter with rock bottom Leicester and defended Phillips, who is struggling to make the game because of an ankle injury that saw him limp off towards the end of Saturday's humiliation.

Reid said: "We let ourselves down and it is imperative we now win against Leicester.

"It's a must-win game, a big, big game. We are down in a dogfight and we are down there because we aren't playing well.

"We've got to get it right. I think Phillips will play. He's a strong character.

"A player of his ability is always going to get into positions to score goals. At 2-0 down I thought the game was over and then Phillips went through and missed a good chance and that was the turning point.

"He'll keep getting there because that's the kind of player he is but things are just not going for him at the moment."

Phillips, however, remains Sunderland's leading goal scorer this season with a mere nine strikes out of the Wearsiders' parlous tally of 24 - a statistic which in itself arouses the scent of relegation.

Together with Niall Quinn, who came on for the injured Patrick Mboma who looks certain to miss the Leicester match, Phillips caused all sorts of problems for Tony Adams, playing his 500th league game for Arsenal, and Sol Campbell. But still he failed to test goalkeeper David Seaman.

Sunderland's defence, meanwhile, simply failed the test - and deserved their drubbing for the shoddy manner in which they gifted goals to Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Sylvain Wiltord.

"We gave them too much space and respect," said 'keeper Thomas Sorensen.

Reid was more colourful in his condemnation.

He said: "We went to sleep in the first 30 minutes, our defence was sloppy, very poor and that's crazy against sides like this.

"We don't need to help guys like Thierry Henry and Bergkamp. But the second-half was important for us to show character.

"We did that and we've got to take that into the last six games. We owe our supporters. After six minutes the game was over and they kept supporting us."

The harsh fact, however, is that after winning the First Division title and recording two seventh place finishes in the Premiership, all founded on the irrepressible striking partnership of Phillips and Quinn, Sunderland have been unable to discover the subtlety needed to progress as a top flight force. Too often their approach-play is lightweight and predictable.

"It's in our hands and we've got good players," said Reid.

"There is anxiety but we are professionals and we have got a job to do. We just can't afford to give things away."